THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

STATEMENT
AUSTRALIA LOSES ITS LAST FERROALLOY SMELTER

Thursday 16 July 2026

Australia has lost its only ferroalloy smelter. More than 200 Tasmanians at Liberty Bell Bay are out of work after $9.6 million in taxpayer support and a sale process the Albanese Government let collapse.

Labor has no plan for heavy industry, and it has no answer on power prices.

Bell Bay has made manganese alloy since the 1960s. It’s the only operation of its kind in the country and used seven per cent of Tasmania’s electricity. Labor’s radical push to Net Zero has driven power prices beyond what heavy industry can bear.

Senator Ayres says he’s backing Australian industry. But today Australia imports every tonne of the manganese alloy that goes into its steel. We have lost a core part of our sovereign capability.

Labor promised a Future Made in Australia. But instead, we are seeing our future made overseas. Labor is managing a slow and sad closure of our industrial base.

[ENDS]